Millicent Okumu doesn’t depart you questioning whether or not she believes what she is saying. She speaks with power, with readability about whom she is constructing for. Ask the place the corporate is heading, and there’s little hesitation; ask whether or not she’s going to nonetheless be operating it in ten years, and the reply isn’t any.
By then, she expects Agriflex, the Kenyan agricultural enterprise she co-founded, to be working in no less than 5 African nations, to be sustainably worthwhile, and to be led by someone else. She may take an advisory position. For now, nonetheless, the corporate occupies even the hours she supposedly spends away from it. At household gatherings, unfinished duties observe her into the room.
Her father, a civil servant and farmer, raised cattle and grew sufficient meals to help kinfolk past his family. She was shut to him, however much less enthusiastic in regards to the farm. She prevented agriculture at college and college, solely to discover herself back in it by way of a logistics job at iProcure in 2017.
Now she sells farm inputs, deploys spraying drones and listens to farmers clarify why a intelligent piece of technology might be of little use to them. That final half has meant slowing down plans and turning away buyers.
“We are in 2026,” she says. “We are no longer in 2006.”
She is impatient for progress, however more and more specific about what counts as progress, and who advantages.
This interview has been edited for size and readability.
If I had met you at ten years previous and requested what you needed to change into, what would you’ve got stated? Would that woman recognise the lady sitting right here at present?
I wouldn’t have identified precisely what I needed to change into, however I used to be already very decided and bold.
I used to be a daddy’s woman, at all times following my father round and taking an curiosity in no matter he was doing. Even when he was discussing critical issues, I needed to be there. Although I wasn’t the firstborn, I used to be usually the individual he delegated duties to.
I couldn’t have advised you that I might find yourself doing what I do at present, however I knew I might be highly effective in a technique or one other.
What did cash appear like within the dwelling you grew up in? Was it one thing individuals mentioned brazenly, frightened about quietly, or anticipated you to exit and discover?
Money wasn’t one thing we mentioned brazenly, however we didn’t have to exit on the lookout for it both. My father was a civil servant who additionally cherished farming. There was sufficient to care for us.
That modified when he died, simply after I had completed Form Four. Suddenly, I had to exit and discover cash. I began working at a younger age and determining how to care for everyone, together with myself.
Money then turned one thing we mentioned brazenly as a result of we had to work out how to make do with the little I used to be incomes.
Your background is in logistics and provide chains. What occurred that made agriculture private sufficient for you to construct a enterprise round it?
Agriculture had at all times been a part of my life. My father had a variety of cattle and land, and farming fed our household, our prolonged household and even different individuals within the village.
He was specific about getting licensed seeds. He would carry them from Kisumu or journey to Homa Bay city to purchase them. We all went to the farm, though I used to be the one who wasn’t significantly eager on it. My father knew that, however he additionally recognised that I had different strengths.
In highschool, I prevented agriculture. At college, I prevented it once more. Then, in 2017, agriculture got here calling.
I had been working in logistics when iProcure approached me. The firm had raised funding and wanted somebody to arrange its logistics division. I joined in October 2017, and that modified every part.
The work uncovered me to a lot, and I grew to adore it. By the time I made a decision to depart, I knew I needed to proceed working in agriculture.
Take me back to the primary farmer you tried to persuade to work with Agriflex. What did they ask that your marketing strategy hadn’t ready you for?
To be trustworthy, recruiting farmers and agro-dealers wasn’t significantly tough due to the relationships we had constructed at iProcure. People knew us and understood what we may do for them.
But one farmer requested a query that stayed with us: “Millicent and Isaac, you know we need inputs, and you are giving us access to them and advice. But what happens after that?”
Isaac is my co-founder and handles industrial actions and operations. What the farmer was asking us about was the marketplace for their produce. We have been supporting manufacturing, however the challenges didn’t finish there.
That made us take into consideration how we may assist farmers discover patrons. We now have a plan to help a few of them with that. We don’t need to assist them by way of manufacturing after which depart them hanging, at the same time as we proceed rolling out different components of the enterprise.
You work with drones and traceability instruments. How do you clarify what you do to a relative who interrupts midway by way of and asks, “But Millicent, what exactly do you sell?”
I begin with what’s best to perceive: I promote seeds to farmers and agro-dealers. I additionally promote crop-protection merchandise, together with agrochemicals and foliar feeds. Those are issues individuals recognise and use, even back at dwelling.
Then I clarify that we’re serving to farmers transfer away from manually spraying their farms. With a drone, we will spray an acre in a minute. Instead of utilizing 100 litres of water per acre, we will use about 10 litres.
We are making the work simpler, decreasing the time farmers spend on these duties and serving to them farm extra effectively. We are in 2026. We are not in 2006.
Tell me a couple of time a farmer checked out one thing you have been happy with and successfully stated, “That is clever, but it won’t work here.” What did you do subsequent?
That occurred with the know-how aspect of the enterprise. Agriflex is technology-enabled, and we’ve got been considering fastidiously about how know-how can complement our work and enhance what we provide farmers.
Initially, we needed to launch a cell app with a number of options, together with illness detection and suggestions on which inputs to use.
But if you exit to the farms, you encounter sensible issues. The web connection is poor, or there isn’t any community in any respect. Many farmers additionally already recognise the widespread pests and ailments affecting the crops they develop recurrently, reminiscent of maize and beans.
They advised us: “If this is what your app will do, it won’t solve my immediate problem.”
What they needed was entry to primary, sensible details about farming with out having to watch for us to organise a coaching session or demonstration. They have been already utilizing WhatsApp. Could we make the knowledge they wanted accessible? Could we begin there, register them after which construct on that relationship?
That suggestions made us decelerate. We had needed to introduce the know-how instantly, however we listened to farmers and agro-dealers and solely rolled it out this yr.
It additionally meant saying no to some buyers who needed know-how to be the precedence. The suggestions from the sector was telling us one thing totally different, and we determined to observe that.
Who pays Agriflex, and for what? Where does the farmer’s achieve finish and your margin start?
Two teams pay us: agro-dealers and farmers. A big proportion of our income comes from agro-dealers, whom we provide in bulk.
We need to attain as many smallholder farmers as attainable, however we can not attain all of them immediately. Working by way of agro-dealers permits us to serve extra farmers by way of companies they already purchase from.
Farmers may also stroll into our two shops, in Molo and Ol Kalou, and purchase immediately from us. Currently, they pay for inputs and drone providers. We additionally launched soil testing a couple of month in the past.
We negotiate higher buying and selling phrases with producers, which permits us to provide inexpensive costs to farmers and agro-dealers whereas incomes a margin.
Trust, reliability and affordability have been crucial to us. Agro-dealers want to know that we are going to provide them reliably, and each they and the farmers want costs that work for them.
What is the most costly assumption you’ve got made on this enterprise, and the way lengthy did it take you to admit it was improper?
There was a challenge we took on early within the enterprise that regarded very profitable. On paper, every part recommended it might work. Based on the knowledge we had obtained and the assumptions we had made, it regarded like a very good alternative.
But it didn’t work out as we anticipated.
It took us three months to agree that we would have liked to cease. We had to settle for that it wasn’t working, minimize it off and transfer on.
When individuals discuss empowering ladies farmers, the language can change into very polished. Tell me about one lady whose expertise pressured you to change how Agriflex operates.
There is a lady farmer with about 50 acres that she vegetation each season. We have been supplying her with inputs, however spending time on her farm confirmed us how far more help she wanted.
Spraying even 20 acres concerned a number of staff over a number of days. She had to be there supervising, and there was a 2,000-litre water tank on the farm. After all that work, the prices have been nonetheless very excessive.
It made us ask what the help provided by way of empowerment programmes truly adjustments. Does it cut back the time a lady spends on the farm? Does it cut back the sources she has to put into it?
With the drone, we accomplished the spraying in about half-hour.
That expertise made us pause and rethink our priorities. Instead of concentrating solely on recruiting extra prospects, we would have liked to look extra carefully at how we supported those we already had. That applies to our agro-dealers too.
We have additionally supported her with discovering a marketplace for her produce, regardless that that’s not the core of our enterprise.
For me, empowerment means making somebody’s life simpler in methods they will truly see and expertise.
Have you ever walked into a gathering and realised you’d have to show your self earlier than anybody would talk about your enterprise? How did you deal with the room?
Yes. Sometimes individuals say: “When you said you were Millicent, and we heard what you were doing, we expected someone older and bigger.”
They knew they have been assembly a lady, however I nonetheless didn’t appear like the individual they’d imagined. Then comes the query: why ought to they belief that I perceive what I’m doing?
What has labored for me is figuring out my enterprise inside out. I would like to perceive each side of it, together with the numbers.
I additionally draw on my expertise. I’ve accomplished this work earlier than, and I’m happy with what I achieved. I’m not going into it blindly. I’ve a blueprint and a few understanding of what’s going to work and what gained’t.
When you’ll be able to clarify that clearly, individuals start to hear. How you carry your self into the room issues too. They might have arrived with assumptions, however you can provide them causes to rethink.
What has been your closest encounter with giving up? What occurred, who did you name, and what made you come the subsequent morning?
There have been a number of moments, however I might deal with fundraising. My co-founder and I’ve appreciable expertise within the enterprise itself. We perceive the work. Funding has been more difficult.
Sometimes conversations progress very properly, and you start to anticipate a constructive end result. You have plans prepared and are getting ready to get issues shifting. Then the suggestions comes: “Let’s pause. Let’s wait.”
You end up asking: wait till when?
It can depart you feeling so dejected that you simply ponder whether to proceed and why you might be doing it in any respect.
The individual I name is at all times my co-founder, Isaac. I inform him issues aren’t going as I believed they might, and we discuss by way of it.
What brings us back is the individuals we’ve got served. Despite the challenges, there was a lot pleasure within the journey.
One lady advised us that beforehand, her farm hadn’t produced sufficient surplus to assist with college charges. Last yr, after placing apart meals for her family, she had sufficient left to pay college charges for her two kids. She was so glad.
Stories like that make us really feel we’ve got to hold going.
We even have to stay versatile and regulate shortly when issues change. Having a co-founder who understands that we’re constructing for the long run makes the journey simpler.
What are you want when issues go improper? If I requested your co-founder, would he describe the identical individual you might be about to describe?
Definitely. He would inform you that Millicent may be very powerful and really strict. But he would additionally inform you that I’m essentially the most constructive individual.
When one thing goes improper, I’m normally the one saying there have to be a very good aspect to it. We won’t see it instantly, however maybe we are going to perceive it tomorrow.
Then I transfer shortly to the subsequent query: what can we do now? We can not keep in the identical place, going over what has occurred.
He would inform you I’m powerful, but additionally that I’m the one who says: “This is temporary. Give it time. Let’s focus on what we can do next.”
What does the enterprise get from you that the individuals closest to you typically have to go with out?
My time. The enterprise will get a lot of my time.
Even when I’m not working, it’s on the back of my thoughts. I might be at a household occasion and out of the blue keep in mind one thing I used to be supposed to do.
These days, I hold notes. If one thing happens to me when I’m doing one thing else, I write it down so I can return to it later.
I may be someplace doing one thing utterly unrelated to Agriflex, however Agriflex continues to be there in my ideas. It takes a variety of my time and psychological power.
You have obtained recognition on your work. After the images and congratulations, which downside is normally nonetheless ready in your desk? Has an award ever helped you remedy it?
The downside is at all times getting the best inputs to our prospects on the proper time. Whether I’m within the discipline, receiving an award or talking someplace, that want stays.
You can by no means appear to have sufficient. The extra you’ll be able to provide, the extra prospects want from you.
Awards have helped by giving us recognition and credibility. Some buyers perceive how rigorous specific programmes or award processes are. When they know you’ve got gone by way of these levels, it may make the dialog simpler and the method sooner, even in the event you don’t finally get the reply you hoped for.
Recognition has additionally helped us meet buyers who’re a greater match. One of our largest fundraising challenges early on was being within the improper rooms with the improper buyers.
Some awards and programmes present persevering with help. For instance, the ladies entrepreneurs award we obtained by way of AGRA final month comes with help that continues past the award itself. These programmes can take a look at totally different features of the enterprise and advocate issues that assist us enhance.
Some awards additionally include cash, which matches into the enterprise.
So sure, they’ve helped: by way of credibility, connections, monetary help and ongoing steerage.
Suppose we meet once more over lunch in ten years. What would have to be true about Agriflex, and about your life outdoors it, for you to say, “Adonijah, this was worth it”?
I take into consideration progress in another way now. We need managed progress.
In ten years, I would really like us to be working properly in no less than 5 African nations. By then, I don’t anticipate to be the CEO.
I would like the enterprise to be operating totally, with another person main it whereas I maybe serve in an advisory position.
I would really like Agriflex to be recognised in Kenya, throughout Africa and internationally as an organization that has been resilient and change into sustainably worthwhile.
That would give me pleasure: seeing another person take the reins and proceed constructing a fantastic enterprise.
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